Alternative comedy favorite David Cross ventured into the mainstream
this past week as the subject of a March 20 live interview event at
the 92nd Street Y, moderated by “Arrested Development”
castmate Michael Cera.

The proceedings were a bit awkward for nearly the first 45 minutes,
considering Cross and Cera must know each other fairly well,
although that very awkwardness could simply have been an intentional
part of the performance. The duo cycled through the obligatory
career narrative for Cross, with just an occasional arch comment
from Cera that winked at the pro forma nature of that conversation.

It was mainly once the program opened up to the audience for
questions that things got interesting, with Cross taking the
opportunity to mock different audience members who had inquiries.
The highlight of this came when one young woman asked what Cross
considered to be the perfect date, and he improvised a long,
elaborate response that had something to do with ordering items from
Seamless.com after riding on the F train and seeing the company’s
advertisements all over the cars. Cross then turned that on its ear,
devolving down to a crude comment or two, but all delivered with
mischief and a glint in the eye, so this wasn’t some sort of rude
misogynistic bullying that it might seem to be if you’re only
reading this account on a page.

The give and take with the audience also ended up yielding the most
interesting career history stories from Cross as well. That includes
the making of the first few episodes of the HBO cult classic series
“Mr. Show,” which had a studio audience bused in from the outer
reaches of the San Fernando Valley, who had absolutely no idea what
sort of material they would be seeing. And that also includes a
juvenile memory Cross unearthed from high school, where he did the
morning announcements and got in trouble for dedicating the lunch
menu to Bobby Sands. This requires a bit of explanation – Sands was
an IRA activist who at the time was in the middle of a hunger strike
– but the joke is definitely emblematic of the attitude Cross would
later bring to his stand up and sketch work.

For an evening that, as related here, took some time to heat up, and
still could be uneven in the interest level generated by the
conversation, Cross’ past “body of work” garnered a lot of goodwill
from alternative comedy fans, and that could be felt in the theater.
Cross was correct to respond, when asked what his favorite
accomplishment is, that it’s “Mr. Show,” and perhaps secondly, some
of his better stand-up inspired by criticizing President Bush around
2003 through 2005.

Being hosted and interviewed by Cera points to the upcoming revival
of “Arrested Development,” certainly another career highlight for
Cross – but that’s one that comes more from the strength of the
conception and writing of that show than Cross working alone. Still
– especially in the quickness of his responses on stage -- this
program reminded that David Cross is a singular, distinctive comic
mind.